Markets escalate to day’s high; trade with gains of around 0.50%

Markets steadily gaining ground had now escalated to day’s high on sustained buying activities by funds and retail investors. Accumulating gains of around half of a percent, both Sensex and Nifty were trading above psychologically crucial 29,000 and 8,800 levels respectively. Meanwhile, the session was productive for broader indices, which outperforming larger counterparts were trading with gains in the range of 0.70-1.30%.

Cautiousness ahead of the release of March CPI data was mainly weighing on the sentiment, nevertheless optimism from Feb IIP data released over the weekend bolstered sentiment. On the macro-front, clocking its fastest pace in nine months, the index for industrial output (IIP) for the month of February came in at 5%, way higher than street expectation of a number of around 3.50% and also much higher compared to 2.6% in January mainly on account of splendid growth of capital goods and consumer goods sector.

On the global front, a rally in china’s stock markets to seven year highs on Monday kept an index of Asian shares near its highest level since September, welcoming weak Chinese trade data hardened expectations for more economic stimulus measures from Beijing. The Chinese markets' bull run has been fueled by speculative buying on hopes of fresh steps to boost an economy struggling for momentum, with first quarter gross domestic product data due to be released on Wednesday expected to show 7.0 percent growth.

Closer home, with across the board buying taking place, most of the sectoral indices on BSE were trading into positive territory, however stocks from Auto counter were the only losers of the session. On the flip side, much of the buying was witnessed by stocks from Consumer Durable, Capital Goods and Realty counters. Realty stocks too were in demand after leading banks cut interest rates on housing loans. The overall market breadth on BSE was in the favour of advances which thumped declines in the ratio of 1676:846; while 117 shares remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 29015.09, up by 135.71 points or 0.47% after trading in a range of 28843.94 and 29024.29. There were 20 stocks advancing against 10 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.72%, while Small cap index was up by 1.28%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Consumer Durables up by 1.51%, Capital Goods up by 1.03%, Realty up by 0.98%, FMCG up by 0.78%, INFRA up by 0.72% while, Auto down by 0.33% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were BHEL up by 2.51%, Bharti Airtel up by 1.62%, Tata Power up by 1.58%, Coal India up by 1.39% and HDFC up by 1.37%. On the flip side, GAIL India down by 2.78%, Hindalco down by 1.38%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 1.35%, Dr. Reddys Lab down by 1.00% and Tata Motors down by 0.83% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Union Minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju, stressing the need of lower taxes for boosting civil aviation, underscored that states which have responded positively to the Centre's request in this regard have witnessed a spurt in activities from the sector. The ministry has requested the state governments to bolster the aviation activity in the country by becoming aviation friendly. It had written to all chief ministers requesting them to be aviation-friendly and bring down taxes on Aviation Turbine Fuel (ATF), which accounts for 40% of an airline’s total operational cost.

Further, the minister also acknowledged the inordinate delay for the proposed aircraft Maintenance Repair and Overhaul (MRO) depot project near Nagpur in Maharashtra, which it viewed as a big opportunity that could result in business worth million of dollars.

The MRO depot, which is a joint venture between Boeing and Air India was conceived in 2004-05, but construction work started only in 2011. Notably, Boeing MRO project is billed as the most modern project in Asia, which could save huge amounts of foreign exchange and also time for airlines.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 8817.05, up by 36.70 points or 0.42% after trading in a range of 8762.10 and 8822.85. There were 33 stocks advancing against 17 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were BHEL up by 2.56%, Idea Cellular up by 1.91%, PNB up by 1.77%, Bharti Airtel up by 1.69% and Tata Power up by 1.52%. On the flip side, GAIL India down by 2.92%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 1.77%, Hindalco down by 1.38%, ACC down by 1.01% and Tata Motors down by 0.96% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly higher; with FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI trading higher by 1.93 points or 0.1% to 1,846.24; KOSPI Index trading higher by 11.16 points or 0.53% to 2,098.92; Straits Times trading higher by 13.22 points or 0.38% to 3,485.60; Taiwan Weighted trading higher by 48.82 points or 0.51% to 9,666.52; Shanghai Composite trading higher by 83.23 points or 2.06% to 4,117.54 and Hang Seng trading higher by 530.17 points or 1.94% to 27,802.56.

On the flip side, Jakarta Composite down by 32.55 points or 0.59% to 5,458.79 and Nikkei 225 declined by 2.17 points or 0.01% to 19,905.46 were the only losers amongst the pack.